Paupack Tennis Takes Down Hazleton; Falls to Scranton

In a play-in playoff game, winner move on, loser go home, Paupack played host to Hazelton Area on the tennis courts Thursday afternoon and came away with a 3-1 victory.

Jason S. Renard

In a play-in playoff game, winner move on, loser go home, Paupack played host to Hazelton Area on the tennis courts Thursday afternoon and came away with a 3-1 victory.

The winner was set to face Scranton on Friday.

“It was a nice win because I knew we had a good team all year, but to finally come out and win a playoff match, in a tough match, tells me they deserved to be in the playoffs,” said Paupack coach Jim Ball.

“It was a great match and it was good to see the kids come through in the end.”

The first Buckhorn player to come off the court with a victory was Eric Miller, taking down Nick Franzosh in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

“He was returning we serves pretty well, but I was able to get everything back and was able to make him make mistakes,” said Miller.

“My serve was working today and I was able to place them. I probably had 10 or 12 aces. I’m happy with how I played today, but I probably could have come to the net a little more.”

In doubles, Garrett Zeiler and Matt McCullough won the second point of the day for the Bucks, defeating Alex Tapia and Jose Arias 6-0, 6-1.

“Today they came out and took care of business and looked good on the court,” said Ball.

“They were serving well, put balls away and didn’t over-hit, that’s the best they played all year and it was in a big match.”

Matt Wildenberg and Lee Janusewski closed out the contest, taking down Mauro Notaro and Anthony Sidari in three sets, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

“We started off a little slow and weren’t consistent with getting all of the balls in, but once the second and third sets came along our serves were better and our returns were on key,” said Wildenberg.

“We had to get our heads in the game and we started to serve better. We also had to switch our net game and move up more to shorten the points. We’re happy with the win.”

With Wildenberg and Janusewski securing the third, and final point in the match, Paupack’s Reed Evans against Donald Tedeso match was suspended in the second set.

“I’m real happy with how they played today, and a win is a win. As long as you win you get to move on in the playoffs,” Ball said.

Against Scranton
On Friday, the Bucks advanced to the District 2-4 Class AAA tiebreaker for the sixth and final seed, and fell to the host Knights 3-0.

Paupack finished the season with an overall record of 8-6, their 11th winning season since 2000 (5-5 in 2004), and 23rd winning season under coach Jim Ball since the inception of the program in 1982.

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